Second Half Surge Lifts Women’s Basketball Past Wheelock College, 79-57

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College junior forward Denisha Parks (Fall River, Mass.) led all scorers with 27 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to help pace the second-seeded Blazers to a 79-57 victory over No. 7 Wheelock College in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament first round women's basketball game at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 17-9 overall and advances to the NECC Championship tournament semifinals for the third straight season. The Blazers will play third-seeded Mitchell College which advanced to the semifinals with a 69-40 victory over No. 6 Bay Path College. Wheelock concludes its season 6-20 overall.

Parks was 13 of 20 shooting from the field en route to 27 points. She added 14 boards and a game-high seven assists, while junior forward JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.) notched a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Pickett was 8 of 11 from the floor. Junior forward Gianna Youngblood (East Freetown, Mass.) canned four three-pointers on eight attempts and finished with 14 points.

Freshmen guard Marissa Merrill (Meredith, N.H.) and Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) dished out four assists each. Burr finished with seven points off the bench, and Merrill added four, while senior guard Ellen Donohue (Southington, Conn.) netted five points and dished out three helpers in the winning effort.

Elms shot 53.8-percent from the floor including 62.1-percent in the second half, and out-rebounded Wheelock, 45-22 to help seal the victory.

Wheelock was led by Emily Doyle's (Lynn, Mass.) 18-point effort on 7 of 14 shooting, while Shannon Garvey (Clarksburg, Mass.) netted 11 points on 5 of 10 from the field. Jaime Gryzch (Columbia, Conn.) and Michelle Woods (Wilmington, Mass.) chipped in 10 points each and Katie Alsip (Quincy, Mass.) added seven points and a team-high seven boards in the losing effort.

Gryzch dished out a team-high four assists for the Wildcats who shot 36.4-percent from the field as a team.

In the first half, Wheelock posted an early lead of five points when Alsip hit a mid-range jumper at the 13:01 mark to set the score at 13-8. After Elms tied the game at 15-15 on a layup by freshman forward Alex Marques (Newington, Conn.), Youngblood and Garvey exchanged strikes from beyond the arc to set the score at 18-18 with 9:28 to play in the half. The Blazers closed out the half scoring 22 of the next 35 points to stake a 40-31 advantage at intermission.

Parks led all scorers at the break with 13 points on 6 of 13 shooting, and Youngblood hit three of her four treys in the frame to help Elms to its nine-point cushion. Doyle led the Wildcats with 11 points, while Garvey followed with nine.

In the second half, Wheelock hit it's first field goal attempt but were held scoreless until Garvey hit a shot with 13:30 left to set the score at 52-35 in favor of Elms.

Elms was able to run its lead to as many as 28 when Youngblood swished a three-pointer to give the Blazers a 77-49 advantage with 2:52 remaining in the game.

Elms out-scored Wheelock, 42-18 in the paint, edged the Wildcats in points off turnovers (11-10) and second chance points (8-5). The Blazers bench out-scored Wheelock's reserves, 11-1.